Shoplifted by a head in Springboard Mile

Shoplifted won a three-way battle to the wire in the $400,000 Springboard Mile on Sunday at Remington Park and in the process earned 10 points for the Kentucky Derby. He edged 3-5 favorite Answer In by a head, while it was another half-length back to Embolden in third. Jungle Runner finished fourth, 13 1/2 lengths behind Embolden.

The Springboard Mile closed out the meet. It was part of a 13-race card that featured six stakes. The race’s second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers also picked up Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 4-2-1.

Shoplifted ($10.80) established his class earlier this year, when he ran second in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga. He came into the Springboard Mile off a seventh-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and on Sunday was content to sit midpack in the 11-horse Springboard field.

“He broke really good, put me in a good position,” jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. said on the simulcast feed from Remington.

Shoplifted sat about five lengths off dueling leaders Alternate Time and Rowdy Yates, who set fractions of 23.49 seconds for the opening quarter and 47.75 for the half-mile. Shoplifted advanced on the final turn as Maximiliano took the lead through six furlongs in 1:13.34. The eventual winner moved four wide to the quarter pole, and into the stretch took after Embolden and Answer In.

“He finished the race really well,” said Santana, who was aboard for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Shoplifted battled to the wire as Answer In surged up the rail under and Embolden kept on between his two rivals. In the end, Shoplifted picked up his first stakes victory and his first win at two turns, while covering the mile on a fast track in 1:37.95.

“We always had confidence in this horse,” Santana said. “He broke his maiden in Saratoga.”

Shoplifted was the sixth Springboard Mile winner for Asmussen, who also won last year’s race with Long Range Toddy, the eventual winner of a division of the Grade 2 Rebel at Oaklawn.

Shoplifted earned $240,000 for his win in the Springboard Mile for owners Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stables, and LNJ Foxwoods. He has now won two of five starts and has career earnings of $385,500. The horse is by Into Mischief.